Faculty in the News - Archive

Friday, January 11, 2008

Adjunct Professor Dan Friedman

The Baltimore Sun, Baltimoresun.com - A Carroll County Circuit judge yesterday dismissed a Republican-backed lawsuit seeking to invalidate November's special legislative session. The plaintiffs had argued that when the Senate took a five-day break during the special session while waiting for the House to finish its work, it failed to get proper approval from the House, thereby invalidating all the tax and spending-reduction bills that were later passed. "The remedy that plaintiffs sought was so draconian as to be nearly impossible," said Dan Friedman, JD, adjunct professor at the School of Law who has written a book about the state constitution. "The remedy for this would be to force them back to work, not to invalidate their work."

Friday, January 11, 2008

Professor Michael Greenberger

"World News Tonight with Charles Gibson," ABC, ABCNews.com - Under new Department of Homeland Security regulations, Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get a new secure driver's license sometime in the next six years, by 2014. This is to comply with the REAL ID Act of 2005, which is intended to make it harder for terrorists, criminals, and illegal immigrants to fraudulently obtain or counterfeit our most common form of ID, the driver's license. "The key question is that the states are going to have to create massive databases, use massive databases, and are these databases going to be secure?" said Michael Greenberger, JD, professor at the School of Law and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security. "The track record on the security of these databases is not good. They are hacked into on a regular basis."

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Professor Lisa Fairfax

The Daily Record – A judge in Baltimore has thrown out the shareholder derivative claims in a $79 million-plus lawsuit against several directors and officers of Telos Corp., an information technology contractor for the military. Telos convinced the court that its Special Litigation Committee, made up of two disinterested directors advised by outside counsel, acted reasonably when it concluded that the suit was not in the company’s best interest. After considering those claims and others, and taking expert testimony from Lisa Fairfax, JD, professor at the School of Law and director of the Business Law Program, the judge concluded the challenges were insufficient to cast doubt on the committee’s independence or investigation.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Adjunct Professor Peter Holland

The Daily Record – In a potentially groundbreaking lawsuit intended to stem foreclosures in Baltimore, Mayor Sheila Dixon’s administration is suing Wells Fargo Bank, a leading mortgage provider, for what the city says has been a pattern of predatory lending in black neighborhoods. Peter Holland, JD, MA, adjunct professor at the School of Law, said the specifics of the suit shocked him. "If the statistics hold up, in my opinion this proves that it’s predatory lending at its absolute worst," said Holland. "We’re not talking about the improvident loan %85 we’re talking about targeting and creating and gouging a subprime class of people, the vast majority of whom are black."

Monday, January 7, 2008

Professor Ellen Weber

The Baltimore Sun – Renewing debate over a controversial proposal that has failed twice before, the Baltimore City Council is again considering legislation that would permit live-in drug treatment centers to open in more residential neighborhoods. Ellen Weber, JD, an assistant professor at the School of Law and an activist on the issue who filed the complaint with the federal government, noted that facilities covered under the legislation are licensed by the state. Denying group homes the ability to operate through the zoning code, she said, is illegal.